


The Kingslayer's Speech

by ikkiM



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-12
Updated: 2017-02-12
Packaged: 2018-09-23 19:07:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9672167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ikkiM/pseuds/ikkiM
Summary: Jaime Lannister's new film is nominated for a Dayne Award.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The ladies in chat on the night of the SAG Awards inspired me to write this. I wish I could remember everyone who was there because then I would gift this to all of you. You make me laugh and you listen to my ramblings and you're all so much fun. Thank you.
> 
> Thanks to Quinn and Sandwiches for the beta.

Brienne had watched the red carpet coverage live on her computer, with another feed up on her tablet. It had been two hours since the Dayne Awards ceremony had begun and after Lysa Arryn’s ‘wardrobe malfunction’ last year, VarysTV had decided to broadcast the show on an hour delay. Brienne was only halfway through the ceremony and it was killing her not to check the liveblogs, not to check the list of winners, but she had promised Jaime she wouldn’t. She couldn’t break a promise to _Jaime_.

Tonight could be the most important night of his career. He’d originally asked her to come with him, arguing that this night was as much about her as it was about anyone. He’d said he didn’t care if she came wearing pajamas or the designer dress he’d had made for her. All that mattered to him was that she share this night with him. But she knew better than to subject herself to the ravages of fashion bloggers and slyly insulting interviewers.

She remembered the time Baelish’s Birds had photographed her out jogging with Jaime and again at a coffee shop. The first time, they’d reported her as his cousin, Stafford, and the second he was applauded for supporting transgender rights. Both times she had been mortified and Jaime livid. He’d wanted to sue Petyr Baelish and demand the man print a retraction. Brienne talked him down in the end, but she had agreed to have her name disclosed by Jaime’s public relations team. Now she was just referred to as his training partner. Best friend. Training partner. That’s all she would ever be. He was _Jaime Lannister_ , the biggest film star in Westeros. She was a Flea Bottom librarian.

Still, Jaime had practically begged her to come with him tonight. He said he valued her as a person, that she mattered to him, that she was important, that _tonight_ was important. She felt terrible for lying to him, saying she might be catching a cold and just wasn’t up to it. That’s when he’d made her swear an oath that she would only watch the delayed broadcast and not read any of the news. She sighed as her hands itched to check the results on her tablet. She supposed she deserved this punishment. In all the time she’d known Jaime, she’d never before lied to him.

They’d first met when he’d asked her fencing coach, Goodwin, to train him in swordfighting for his second feature film, _War for Dawn_. Goodwin hadn’t quite recovered from his knee surgery and suggested Brienne be Jaime’s sparring partner. Jaime had agreed because she was big enough and strong enough to help train him along with being scrupulously honest and discreet. Eight weeks and hundreds of hours later, they’d gone from adversaries to friends, and over the next six years, best friends.

In that time, Jaime starred in eleven movies and won four Dayne awards for Best Actor. He was now a perennial nominee, dethroning Aerys ‘King of the Daynes’ Targaryen, earning Jaime the nickname ‘Kingslayer’. On top of that, Jaime had become one of the best stagefighters in Westerosi cinema, doing his own stunts and making cameos in other films just for the chance to take part in the swordfighting scenes.

After _War for Dawn_ , she hadn’t really expected to see him again. He saw things differently. Whenever he wasn’t on location filming, he would show up at her library, wandering the stacks and pretending to help her re-shelve books until he could convince her to ‘come out and play,’ which usually involved bashing each other with wooden swords in his private gym, ordering pizza, then watching documentaries on the Citadel Channel.

When he was away, he’d taken to calling her or ManyFacing her every day. Once, when he’d been filming in Qarth, he'd called the library pretending to be a patron looking for a novel, _My Sexy Swordswench_. Brienne had actually begun a catalog search before Jaime dropped his fake accent and his laughter rumbled through the line, causing her entire body to flush.

Before she met Jaime, Brienne was sure that being friends with a famous actor would be a nightmare. She thought most of them vain, arrogant and needy, always entangled in one romance-for-publicity or another. But that was just her first celebrity crush, Renly Baratheon. When Baelish’s Birds revealed that Renly was actually gay and that his romance with socialite, Margaery Tyrell, was all an act, teenage Brienne had been devastated.

Jaime was nothing like that. He refused to go on dates just to get his photo on the gossip sites and he ignored all the rumors about his sexuality. He was vain and he was arrogant, but he was also kind, funny and loyal. He was happier running errands in a borrowed pair of her sweatpants than he was attending galas in bespoke tuxedos.

It was because of Jaime’s penchant for wearing her borrowed clothing that The Kiss had happened. Brienne flushed at that memory. When he wasn’t filming, Jaime spent more nights at her cottage than in his own mansion, and he was forever leaving his clothes strewn about her spare bedroom. That morning, she had made him wait at the door as she gathered his spare shoes and tablet, securing them in his backpack.

He had fussed as she’d handed him the bag. She’d been annoyed by how handsome he looked, pouting and with his collar askew. She’d reached out a hand to fix the twisted material and then instinctively pressed her lips against his. She’d been mortified. He’d been shocked and then his eyes had sparkled with unholy delight. She shoved him out the door and locked it behind him before he could mock her. To this day, Brienne would swear she heard him whistling as he made his way to the car.

That had been the first. The next time they’d parted, he stood in her doorway, eyes tightly shut and lips puckered until she asked him what the hells he was doing. He just answered that he was waiting for his goodbye kiss. No matter how she argued that the first kiss had been an accident, ( _did you trip and fall into my lips, wench?_ ), he had insisted that he was entitled to a kiss with every goodbye now. It was his due, he said. Just to shut him up, she’d smacked her lips against his and sent him on his way.

From then on, it was easier just to kiss him than to talk to him about why she didn’t want to kiss him. Jaime was only her second kiss ever, the first taking place on the playground and ending in a blackened eye, Owen Inchfield’s, not hers. She didn’t even want to consider how many women Jaime had kissed. She’d seen him kiss no less than sixteen women on screen. Anytime those were mentioned, Jaime made up some horrible story about bad breath or excess saliva and told her those kisses were not nearly as sexy as they looked.

 _Their_ kisses, and Brienne blushed even to think of it, had become more than a casual habit. She’d been shocked the first time Jaime had slipped his arms around her waist and turned a closed mouth peck into something more. Things had progressed by millimeters, and tonight’s kiss, when, after putting the finishing touches on his tuxedo, he backed her into her living room, his hand under her tee shirt and mouth attached to her neck, tumbling them onto the couch before his chauffeur had knocked on her door, had been much more than a goodbye. Jaime’s eyes had been dark but he grinned as she’d shoved him away, reminding him that he didn’t want to be late. He pressed his lips against hers once more before he left and asked her if she was sure she didn’t want to go with him, again saying that he wanted tonight to be special. Brienne had rolled her eyes, but did wish him luck.

She absently reached up to rub the red welt on her neck as she watched Loras Tyrell accept his Dayne for Best Actor, remembering how Jaime’s lips had felt against her skin. Jaime hadn’t starred in a film this year, breaking his string of nominations. Instead, he had stepped behind the camera, producing and directing a film from an first-time writer and casting two relative unknowns as the leads, Bran Stark and Meera Reed. Bran was nominated for Best Actor, but Jaime had correctly predicted that Loras Tyrell would win for his hilarious and snarky performance as _The Darkstar_. Loras' speech was as hilarious as his performance, but it seemed to drag on forever.

Next up was Best Original Screenplay and Samwell Tarly, the writer of Jaime’s film, was nominated. Brienne visited the set once and Jaime had introduced her to Sam and his wife, Gilly. The four of them went out to dinner afterwards. It was nice. At Gilly’s prompting, Sam haltingly told Jaime he’d like to make changes to a couple of scenes. Jaime had listened, treating Sam with all the respect due an established screenwriter. Brienne caught the look on Gilly’s face while Sam talked, a mixture of love, wonder and pride. For just a moment, the women locked eyes and Brienne knew she had been looking at Jaime the same way.

As she stared at the screen Brienne didn’t realize she was holding her breath until Sam’s name was announced. He looked stunned and could only shake his head as Gilly wrapped her arms around him. Brienne watched as Jaime and Sam hugged before the writer made his way to the stage. Sam’s acceptance speech was charming. The look of gratitude on his face was sweet and sincere as he expressed his thanks to Jaime for giving him a chance, before crediting Bran and Meera along with the rest of the cast and crew for the success of the film. His final thank you was to Gilly, calling her his love, his life, his muse. Brienne felt her eyes get misty before the tension returned.

The next Dayne to be awarded was for Best Director and Jaime was nominated. Brienne held her breath. Jaime didn’t expect to win. He thought the Dayne should go to Missandei Grey for the political drama, _Meereenese Knot_. He thought Missandei’s work was brilliant and this was her third directing nomination. Jaime also said the Academy was unlikely to award an actor with a Best Director win for his first time behind the lens. Jaime was right, and Missandei’s name was called as the winner. Brienne sighed. She so wanted Jaime to win. He deserved the recognition. Brienne barely heard Missandei’s speech as she kept looking for Jaime in the crowd.

Now there was only one award left, Best Film. Brienne was on the edge of her seat. Jaime _deserved_ this win. He’d pulled Sam’s script out of obscurity and brought it to life. Producing this film was the biggest risk of Jaime’s career, and the movie itself was brilliant. Jaime’s eyes had been fixed on her as she’d watched the film and when she choked back a sob at the end, he’d brought her knuckles to his lips.

Brienne stared at Jaime as one of the cameras focused on him while screen legend Rhaella announced the nominees. Jaime looked nervous, more nervous than she’d ever seen him. Or perhaps she was projecting and it was the butterflies in her own stomach that made her see a hint of wariness in Jaime’s eyes.

It seemed to take an age for Rhaella to open the envelope. Brienne resisted the urge to hit the fast-forward button. The actress smiled into the camera and announced the winner:

 _I Dreamed I Was Old_ , Executive Producer Jaime Lannister.

Brienne jumped from her seat and clapped, not feeling at all ridiculous. Jaime had _won_. He looked first shocked and then his face broke into a smile, but there was still a wariness in his eyes. He hugged Sam, Bran and Meera before making his way to the stage. Brienne sat back on her couch and made sure her recording was working. She didn’t want to miss a moment. Rhaella cupped Jaime’s cheek as she handed him the Dayne statuette. He kissed her hand before taking his place at the podium.

Jaime cleared his throat and looked down into the audience at his colleagues and peers. He began his speech, “I want to thank the Dayne Academy, Sam Tarly, Gilly Tarly, Bran Stark, Meera Reed and every member of the cast and crew. I wish I could name them all, but they only give us so much time up here.” The crowd laughed.

Jaime cleared his throat. “ _I Dreamed I Was Old_ is a movie about love. Not just a movie about falling in love, but a movie about not wasting your life being afraid to love. So I want to make this acceptance speech about those things.”

Jaime then looked directly into the camera. It almost felt as if he were looking right at her.

“I have been hopelessly, desperately in love with a woman for the past six years.”

The audience murmured. Brienne caught her breath.

“When I first met her, I was too brash and too arrogant even to understand how I felt about her. She was too innocent and too honorable for the likes of me. I’m older now, and probably still more arrogant than I should be, but I know what I feel for her, though I’m still so, so very unworthy. She means more to me than my career, or the Dayne Awards, or well… anything. It’s time I let her know.”

Jaime shifted behind the podium and looked down at the Dayne before looking back up at the camera. He inhaled. Brienne reminded herself to exhale.

“Brienne Tarth, I love you.” He shook his head. “Wait no, you stupid woman, I’m sure you’ll misunderstand that. I don’t _love_ you like a friend. I am completely and utterly _in_ love with you. I go to bed at night with my arms wrapped around an old pillow that I stole from you three years ago. The first thing I do when I wake in the morning is check your Raven account for the FleaBottom Library Book Recommendation of the Day. The best days of my life are the days I spend with you, swordfighting and arguing and cooking and watching you help a patron find just the right book. Every day with you is better than the last and I am a better man for having known you, but I’ll never be good enough.”

The orchestra started to play, signaling that his speech time had ended, but with one aristocratic Lannister glare, they stopped. Brienne felt she was in a dream.

“I wish I could say that my love for you is chaste and pure and like something from a fairytale, but it’s not. I _want_ you, Brienne. I can’t stop thinking about your legs and your skin and that sexy cluster of freckles on your right collarbone and your lips which are softer and stronger than any lips have a right to be. And your eyes. Your astonishing, amazing eyes that are like precious gems. Like sapphires.”

The crowd tittered, but Brienne could only focus on Jaime. This couldn’t really be happening. He swallowed and bit his lower lip and reached into the pocket of his suit jacket. He pulled out a small, black velvet box and opened it. The camera zoomed in on a ring, a sapphire solitaire. Brienne heard a knock at her door but couldn’t tear her eyes away from the screen.

“I meant to do this later tonight, when I got home, but now that I’ve started I can’t seem to stop.” His lips curled into a small smile before he shook his head. “So here goes. Brienne, I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I am yours. I will always be yours. Will you marry me?”

She shook her head as the orchestra struck up the love theme to _I Dreamed I Was Old_ and the camera pulled back to sweep over the crowd before the credits began to scroll across the screen. That hadn’t actually happened. It couldn’t have. She heard another knock, this time more insistent. Dazed, she made her way across the room and flung open the door.

There he stood, tie missing, hair tousled, his Dayne statuette in one hand, the black velvet box in another and a question on his lips.


End file.
